CRV Ambreed, AgResearch develop eczema tolerant dairy cattle

Collaboration between artificial
breeding company CRV Ambreed and Crown Research Institute
AgResearch under the auspices of the Primary Growth
Partnership (PGP) is helping to reduce the impact of facial
eczema (FE) in dairy cattle by developing genetics that make
cows more tolerant to the disease.

CRV Ambreed’s
genetic development strategist Phil Beatson said dairy
farmers know that facial eczema is a cruel disease that can
be incredibly stressful for cattle, and an economic risk to
their businesses through lowered milk production, weight
loss and death of stock.

“For every three in 100 cows
with clinical FE, it is estimated up to 70 per cent of the
herd may have subclinical symptoms. You won’t necessarily
see the disease in cows with subclinical symptoms, but it
will be damaging the liver and lowering milk production,”
said Mr Beatson.

“Because many subclinical animals go
undiagnosed and untreated, it is hard to quantify the
economic impact of FE on the dairy industry – but
conservative estimates in lost milk production are around
$160M per year, depending on outbreaks and weather.”

He
said the good news is that FE resistance in dairy cattle is
a heritable trait.

“The sheep industry has proven that
if you develop a long-term breeding programme you can
significantly reduce the occurrence of the devastating
disease.

“We’ve seen how sheep farmers have taken
control and addressed the disease well, but in the dairy
industry it hasn’t received the same degree of attention
until now.”

DairyNZ strategic investment leader for
productivity, Dr Bruce Thorrold, said the dairy industry is
very supportive of the research being done.

“A key
objective of the PGP programme is to use transforming
technologies and information flows to help dairy farmers to
sustainably improve dairy farm productivity through on-farm
innovation and research,” said Dr Thorrold.

The work is
being funded by CRV, Beef + Lamb New Zealand (formally Meat
& Wool New Zealand), DairyNZ and the Ministry for Primary
Industries as part of the Transforming the Dairy Value Chain
PGP programme.

“Because FE is an issue for the industry,
we have all invested in the science behind more tolerant
bulls to provide dairy farmers with another option for FE
management. Bull testing is available to all the industry
now, and it’s good to see the science being commercialised
by CRV,” said Dr Thorrold.

AgResearch scientist Dr Chris
Morris and Neil Cullen have been leading the project
alongside Beatson.

“Our work with CRV Ambreed over the
past 10 years has resulted in a bull team which will sire
cows with a degree of resistance and more resilience to a FE
challenge than cows from the average bull. These bulls have
been evaluated for FE tolerance, so dairy farmers can take a
long-term view to developing herds resilient to a FE
challenge,” said Mr Cullen.

Beatson said the research
has been particularly intensive over the past four years to
establish bull teams which in one round of use are predicted
to breed the next generation of cows 25 per cent less
reactive to a challenge from FE.

“We will never
completely eradicate FE or have animals that are 100 per
cent resistant. Animals will continue to react to FE, but we
can reduce the severity of that reaction and potentially
save the industry millions of dollars through lost milk
production and cow wastage,” said Mr
Beatson.

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